Report: Seahawks' Wilson 'wants' to be in Seattle, but has short list of teams should trade happen

The speculation around Russell Wilson’s discontentment with the Seattle Seahawks continues to grow.

Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Wilson “wants” to be in Seattle, but if a trade were to be considered, the only teams he would go to are the Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders. 
 
A previous tweet from Schefter earlier Thursday mentioned the same details but said that Wilson “has not demanded a trade.” That note was interestingly taken out in the clarifying tweet, adding more fuel to the Wilson trade rumors that have dominated the early part of the Seahawks’ offseason.

An emergence of a short list of potential new teams for Wilson follows the publishing Thursday of an in-depth piece on the current state of the relationship between the quarterback and the Seahawks by The Athletic. That story said Wilson has already “broached” potential trade destinations with the Seahawks. The mentioned teams included the Saints and Raiders — both noted by ESPN, too — but also the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.

Wilson has said he wants to be in Seattle. There has been no indication that he has demanded a trade. And there’s also been no indication that the Seahawks have made him available — even if "probably" one-third of the league's teams, according to The NFL Network, have called anyway to implore, and even if the Seahawks could be answering those calls out of their philosophy of due diligence.

But there is tension, what was made clear when Wilson moved away from his buttoned-up approach of the last nine years with the public to air his grievances with the team to the media earlier this month. He voiced displeasure with his pass protection.

And with Wilson’s agent going on the record with ESPN — a national news outlet — to offer a list of potential teams, should a split with the Seahawks be viewed as necessary, is just the latest sign that all is not rosy between Seattle and its franchise quarterback. The four teams mentioned by ESPN all have offensive-minded head coaches, which could appeal to Wilson — Sean Payton (Saints), Mike McCarthy (Cowboy), Jon Gruden (Raiders) and Matt Nagy (Bears).

What remains unclear is if Wilson and the Seahawks can work out their issues.

Apart from the pass-protection concerns, Wilson and coach Pete Carroll appear to have differing visions on how the offense must move forward, too. And Wilson has wanted more say on personnel moves made by the team. He told reporters at his end-of-season press conference last month that his involvement in the hiring of the team’s next offensive coordinator was “critical.” It’s unclear if former Rams passing game coordinator Shane Waldron was his top choice for the job, but he was ultimately involved in his hiring and has said good things about him.

The Athletic reported that before the Seahawks’ Thursday Night Football game against the Cardinals this past season — after ugly offensive showings against the Bills and Rams — Wilson met with coaches and outlined his thoughts for how to fix the offense. His suggestions were “dismissed” and Wilson “stormed” out of the room, according to the story.

The piece also said that Wilson spoke to Carroll sometime after this year's Super Bowl about the offensive line and wanted to know the vision to address it, but a plan “wasn’t relayed to him, at least not to Wilson’s satisfaction,” according to the story.

If the Seahawks did trade Wilson — who does veto power and the final say in where he'd go to, as he does have a no-trade clause in his contract — before June 1, they’d incur a $39 million dead cap charge for 2021, according to OvertheCap.com. If they traded him after June 1, they’d take a $13 million dead cap hit for the upcoming season (including $19 million in cap savings) and a $26 million dead cap hit for 2022.